Poll: Americans say Democrats, GOP equal on terrorism

For the first time in five years, Americans do not consider Republicans to be tougher on terrorism than Democrats, according to a poll released Thursday.

A new Gallup poll shows that 45 percent of Americans think Democrats would do a better job than Republicans of protecting the U.S. from future international terrorism and military threats, while 45 percent think the GOP would do the better job.

SEE RELATED:

Gallup has regularly surveyed citizens since 2002 on party toughness toward terrorism, and Republicans have consistently rated as tougher. The only time they did not was in 2007, when 47 percent of respondents favored Democrats while just 42 percent favored Republicans.

Pollsters said the 2007 result may have been caused by public concerns over the Iraq War, and that this year’s poll — taken during and after last week’s Democratic National Convention — may have been affected by a spike in favorable views of Democrats caused by their quadrennial gathering.